Kind runner helps rival go the distance

Wednesday

Jun 6, 2012 at 12:01 AMJun 6, 2012 at 2:02 PM

Meghan Vogel committed a simple act of human kindness during the state high-school track championships at Jesse Owens Stadium. A runner fell in front of her, she picked her up, and she did not think twice about it. At least two people caught the act on video, and it went viral. This was Saturday. On Sunday, scores of new Facebook friends messaged Vogel that she was a hero. Vogel is a 17-year-old junior from West Liberty-Salem High School, which is about 50 miles northwest of Columbus.

Michael Arace, The Columbus Dispatch

Meghan Vogel committed a simple act of human kindness during the state high-school track championships at Jesse Owens Stadium. A runner fell in front of her, she picked her up, and she did not think twice about it. At least two people caught the act on video, and it went viral. This was Saturday.

On Sunday, scores of new Facebook friends messaged Vogel that she was a hero.

On Monday, Rush Limbaugh suggested on his nationally syndicated radio show that Vogel’s act was another indication of the decline of our culture, which is suffering from a decline of “hard manliness,” which is the price a nation must pay for the rise of liberalism.

Yesterday, Vogel was interviewed by Steve Doocy for a segment of Fox & Friends, a morning show on Fox News Channel.

“I didn’t think it would turn out to be this huge thing,” she told Doocy and a national television audience.

Vogel is a 17-year-old junior from West Liberty-Salem High School, which is about 50 miles northwest of Columbus. She is the second female track athlete in WLHS history to qualify for state competition in three different events.

She won the Division III state championship in the 1,600 meters, the metric mile, in an upset Saturday afternoon. She beat a Versailles runner she had never before beaten. She broke the 5-minute barrier (4:58.31) for the first time in her life.

She had about a 30-minute rest before the 3,200 meters. It was not enough. From the start, she was gassed.

“By the third lap, she had that look on her face that said, ‘Well, I just don’t have it for this one, so I’m just going to shut it down and finish,’” said Ann Vogel, Meghan’s mother and the longtime coach for the West Liberty-Salem’s track and cross country teams.

“When it was all over, she said to me: ‘I think God put me in last place for a reason.’”

Meghan Vogel watched the 3,200 unfold from the back of the field. There was a pack of runners about 100 meters in front of her and, in front of the pack — somewhere in the middle of the field — was Arden McMath, a sophomore from Arlington High School in Hancock County.

McMath began faltering late in the eight-lap race. She fell twice and was passed by the pack she had pulled along for a thousand meters. Vogel saw this, sped up and reached McMath after she fell for a third time.

Vogel did not gently pull McMath up and hold her hand over the last 50 meters. She had to lift McMath, support her weight and essentially drag her to the finish line.

As the finish line approached, Vogel made sure that McMath crossed first.

“She was ahead of me the whole race,” Vogel said. “She was probably going to break 12 minutes running at that pace. I wasn’t. I wasn’t going to not have her beat me. She worked too hard to get to the state meet, and she deserved to finish.”

McMath was touched.

“It was amazing. I didn’t expect that at all,” McMath told Fox. “Most people would have just run by. But she definitely stepped it up and helped me out. It was really nice of her.”

The sun-splashed fans who packed the grandstand at Ohio State’s track stadium stood and roared as this played out.

“In the moment, the only thought I had was she so obviously needs help, so help,” Vogel said. “I didn’t want her to hurt herself, scrape her leg or spike herself. She was dehydrated. So was I. We wound up in the same training room on two different beds. They almost had to take her to the ER because she wasn’t keeping fluids down. It took her a while to recover.”

According to Ohio High School Athletic Association rules, which follow international guidelines, in a situation in which a runner is aided by another runner, both are disqualified.

“I’ve been around cross country since I was 4 weeks old,” Vogel said. “I know the rules. I knew that if an official had helped, it would have been an automatic DQ for her. I thought if I helped, maybe they’d look another way. Really, it wouldn’t have bothered me if they DQ’d me. I just wanted Arden to finish.”

Vogel and McMath finished 14th and 15th, last and next-to-last. They were not disqualified. No official raised a yellow flag to call for a foul. The meet referee was not called on to make a decision.

Dale Gabor, the OHSAA’s director for cross country and track and field, and the rules interpreter for both sports, was in the stadium and was captivated.

“Basically, what you saw here is the real spirit of high-school athletics,” Gabor said. “What she did showed true sportsmanship and camaraderie. Secondly, I know how the rule reads. The idea behind aiding is that it creates an unfair advantage, and there was no advantage gained here.

“As to whether this contributes to the decline of our culture, well, my feeling is that if there were more people like Meghan Vogel, we’d all be a lot better off.”

The hubbub has turned the first weekend of summer vacation into a maelstrom for Meghan Vogel. USA Today has called, as have producers from TV and radio stations from Dayton to Boston, as have a host of bloggers.

She has been touched by people who have lauded her as an inspiration. She has been perplexed by those who have attached some other kind of meaning to what she did. Her friends are teasing her, saying, “Let’s get our life back to normal so we can do something.”

She said she feels bad for McMath because running demands a certain solitude that has been violated by all of the attention.

“I understand (the reaction) a little now, I guess,” Vogel said. “I know anybody else on the track would have done the same thing for me. I don’t see why it’s a big deal. I don’t get that point.

“Rush Limbaugh? That definitely surprised me — it’s like it has been taken and twisted into something political, almost propaganda. On the other side of it, some people are taking it as something that restored their faith in humanity.

“I just kind of wanted to help someone else. To see an act of good sportsmanship should be something normal.

“Somebody falls, pick them up.”

marace@dispatch.com

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